Hull tosses no-hitter as Capo Valley tops Dana Hills

MISSION VIEJO – Delaney Hull had been close so many times that when it finally happened, it felt like any other shutout.

By utilizing the defense behind her and keeping the ball down, the junior pitcher fired a no-hitter for Capistrano Valley in a 1-0 win over visiting Dana Hills in the South Coast League on Thursday.

“I knew it was going to be close because we’re both good teams,” Hull said. “I did my best to keep the ball out of the white (part of the plate) and worked hard on my spins. It was a great team win, we did a good job of supporting each other.”

Hull received all the offensive support she needed in the first inning. Amanda Gjertsen led off the inning with a towering home run to left-center on a 1-2 pitch from Dana Hills starter Serafine Parrish. It was Gjertsen’s 10th homer of the season.

“Going out there with a run on the board was a great feeling,” Hull said.

The Cougars (12-6, 2-1) managed just four hits the rest of the way as Parrish seemed to get stronger with runners on base.

Parrish, a junior, worked around a leadoff double by Jasmine Sievers by striking out the next three batters she faced in the fourth inning. Parrish finished with seven strikeouts.

“She’s like that, she can be an emotional player, but she’s really good at using that in a productive way,” Dolphins coach Brandon Cosenza said. “We knew this game would be a low-scoring pitching battle coming in. We just have to help out a bit more offensively, but we’ll get there.”

Hull struck out five and induced 12 groundouts. She hit a batter in the second and third innings.

Dana Hills (12-10, 1-2) appeared to break up the no-hitter in the fourth inning as Cozette Zoch sent a groundball to right field. Capistrano Valley’s Alyssa Lazatin charged the grounder and fired to first, beating Zoch by a half-step to preserve the milestone.

Eight of the final nine outs were kept in the infield.

“Knowing how well Serafine has been throwing, we knew it might come down to one run,” Cougars coach Ashley Evans said. “We didn’t think it would just be one, but Delaney performed. She worked ahead and hit some really great spots.”